27 March, 2013

This filling
soup is simple to make, inexpensive and uses mainly store-cupboard ingredients
(a welcome feature if it’s too cold to go to the shop, or if you’re snowed in).Its bright colour and mildly spicy flavour
make it a cheerful and comforting dish on a cold day.

It
works equally well with haricot beans, butter beans or cannellini beans, so you
can choose whichever you prefer or happen to have to hand. If using dried
beans, remember to put them in to soak the night before.

This recipe
serves two as a main meal with bread, or four as a first course.It freezes well, so you can make double the quantity
and freeze half to use later.

18 March, 2013

Bride of the Spear (first published under the title Lady of the Fountain) is the first in Kathleen Herbert's North Kingdoms trilogy. Set in Cumbria and Lothian (now north-west England and south-east Scotland) in the late sixth century, it tells the story of Taniu, daughter of the King of Lothian, and Owain, son of Urien Rheged. (For historical background on Owain, see earlier post 'Owain son of Urien').I am very fond of this trilogy, and am delighted to see that the three books are to be re-published by Trifolium Books UK*. Bride of the Spear will appear first, with the new edition scheduled for June 2013.

Here's the blurb:

Arthur, the last High King of the once civilised Roman province of
Britannia, has been dead for fifty years. The last British kings of the North
are fighting for survival in a welter of feuding and treachery.

Taniu, neglected and unloved daughter of King Loth of
Lothian, is out gathering herbs when she meets a handsome young huntsman,
unaware that he is Prince Owain of Cumbria. The two promise to meet in the
spring, but when the awaited time comes and the King of Cumbria applies to Loth
for the hand of his daughter, Taniu refuses, never connecting huntsman and
prince.Tragedy, bloodshed and
separation follow, but there is a satisfyingly upbeat ending.

At last, Kathleen
Herbert's Heroic Age books, long out of print, are to be published in their
correct order. They have been variously known as The Northumbrian Trilogy and
The Cumbrian Trilogy. They have a much wider geographical setting than either
suggests, ranging from Lothian and Strathclyde, through modern Yorkshire and
North Wales to the Midlands, hence the new title: The Northern Kingdoms.

Bride of the Spear is due out in June, Queen of the Lightning and Ghost in the Sunlight will follow later in
2013.

11 March, 2013

Ripples in the Sand is the fourth in Helen Hollick’s
historical fantasy series featuring dashing (ex-)pirate captain Jesamiah Acorne
and the white witch Tiola Oldstagh.The
series began with Sea Witch (reviewed here earlier),
and continued with Pirate Code and then with Bring It Close (reviewed here earlier).The historical figures Henry Jennings and
James Stuart (father of Bonnie Prince Charlie) appear as secondary
characters.All the main characters are
fictional.

Former pirate Jesamiah Acorne and his wife Tiola are on
their way to England to sell a cargo of tobacco from Jesamiah’s plantation in
Virginia (not to mention some other valuable items that need not trouble the
customs officers). Tiola is seriously ill as a result of the hostility of
Tethys, the sea goddess; all white witches have difficulty crossing the sea,
but Tethys has a particular feud with Tiola because Tethys wants Jesamiah for
herself.Jesamiah is coerced into
carrying a passenger, Henry Jennings, ex-pirate and now on a political mission
to the English government in which Jesamiah has no interest whatsoever.All Jesamiah wants is to get Tiola safely
ashore and to find a buyer for his tobacco (and the unofficial cargo). But Jesamiah soon finds himself embroiled in
family ties he did not even know he had, and then entangled in a political plot
– at risk from an unknown traitor among the plotters, and from the deadly fury
of Tethys.

Fans of the previous books in the series will know what
to expect.Despite now being respectably
married, a landowner, and (technically at least) no longer a pirate, Jesamiah’s
temper, tendency to jump to conclusions and liking for wine and women (not
necessarily in that order) still land him in trouble on a regular basis,
requiring quick wits, cunning and skill to get himself out again. Tiola’s
magical powers and her supernatural conflict with Tethys give the novel a
strong fantasy element. The back story of Jesamiah’s complicated family
history, Tiola’s supernatural powers and their relationship is explained as
required, so although Ripples in the Sand
is the fourth in a series, it could be read as a stand-alone.The scene for Ripples in the Sand has shifted from North America and the
Caribbean to the North Devon coast, specifically the estuary of the Rivers Taw
and Torridge near the edge of Exmoor. Exmoor is, of course, Lorna Doone territory, and some later
generations of the notorious Doone family make an ingenious appearance in Ripples in the Sand.

Jesamiah’s complicated family history acquires another
layer of complexity in Ripples in the
Sand – it’s a wise child that knows its own father, as the saying goes –
giving Jesamiah a completely unexpected set of new relatives to come to terms
with. Members of Tiola’s family also make an appearance, causing conflict in
her relationship with Jesamiah.

The political sub-plot involving an attempted Jacobite
invasion makes a dramatic background, and the Monmouth Rebellion and its brutal
aftermath a generation earlier still cast a long shadow over some of the
characters.There is plenty of action,
including sea chases, a naval battle, a shoot-out with the customs men and a
jailbreak.

The fantasy plot revolving around the conflict between
Tiola and Tethys worked less well for me; I am not well attuned to supernatural
powers that actually work (as opposed to beliefs
in supernatural powers, a different matter entirely), and I suspect that a lot
of it went over my head.I got rather
lost in the time travel sequences, although I did like the cameo appearance by
not-yet-King Harold Godwinson, a thoroughly decent man even when raiding and
probably my favourite of Helen Hollick’s historical characters (he stars in Harold The King / I Am the Chosen King, reviewed here earlier).
If I understood the supernatural plot correctly, I think it resolves a plot
strand that has been running since Sea
Witch; the question of why Tethys has an obsession with claiming Jesamiah
for herself.

The political adventure plot does not so much end as
take a brief pause for breath, and Jesamiah’s predicament at the end is clearly
a potential springboard to a further adventure (according to the Author’s Note
a further instalment is indeed planned soon). Jesamiah’s unexpected new family
ties, as well as Tiola’s family, may also offer scope for further development.

Dialect is used to indicate regional origin and social
standing, from the French accent of the Breton sailing master Claude de la Rue
to the broad Devon dialect of the ferryman and tavern keeper.It took me a little while to ‘tune in’ to
some of the accents, especially the broad Devon dialect, which I found hard to
follow at first.As expected, given the
setting, the text is liberally salted with nautical terms, and these are
explained in a comprehensive glossary at the back of the book and a plan of a
square-rigged ship at the front.

A helpful Author’s Note at the end describes some of
the inspiration behind the novel and outlines some of the underlying history. I
was interested to see that one of the most attractive characters, a boisterous
boy named Thomas Benson, is based on a historical figure and is planned to
feature in further instalments.

Historical fantasy set against a background of
smuggling and Jacobite rebellion in eighteenth-century Devon.

02 March, 2013

Owain
map Urien (Owain son of Urien) was a warrior-hero of the royal house of Rheged
in the late sixth century.He appears in
some of the poetry attributed to Taliesin, and later became a hero of medieval Arthurian
romance.What can we say about him?

Evidence

Although
his father Urien (Urbgen) is mentioned in Historia Brittonum, there is no
mention of Owain in Historia Brittonum or Annales Cambriae.More surprisingly, he also makes no
appearance in the Harleian or Gwyr y Gogledd genealogies, which terminate with
Urien as the last generation.Owain son
of Urien is known from poetry, mainly the group of poems attributed to Taliesin
and preserved in a medieval Welsh manuscript, from the Triads, a collection of
aides-memoires for poets and storytellers also preserved in medieval Welsh
manuscripts, and from the legends surrounding the conception and birth of St
Kentigern.

Genealogies

The
Harleian genealogy for Urien terminates with Urien and does not list any
offspring

The
Peniarth manuscript triad mentioned below refers to “Cyndeyrn Garthwys the
chief bishop”, suggesting that Garthwys is an epithet or nickname, so this
would translate roughly as ‘Kyndeyrn Garthwys, son of Owein son of Urien, by Denw
daughter of Lewdwn.’

The Death-Song of Owain

The
soul of Owain, son of Urien […]

There
will not be found a match for the chief of the glittering west

[…]

When
Flamdwyn killed Owain, there was not one greater than he sleeping

Translations
vary; an alternative translation has Owain slaying Flamdwyn ‘When Owain slew
Flamdwyn it was no more to him than to sleep’.Either version is compatible with the subject matter of the poem.If Flamdwyn killed Owain it could be a
description of the circumstances of Owain’s death, if Owain killed Flamdwyn it
could be a description of a famous earlier deed performed by Owain before he
died.It could even be both, if they
killed each other in a cataclysmic battle.

Again,
translations vary; the phrase ‘Ceneu son of Coel’ has been translated as ‘a
whelp of Coel’, i.e. a descendant of Coel’s line.For more information on Coel, founder figure
of a number of royal genealogies, see post on Coel Hen.

Triads

Three
Fair Princes of the Island of Britain

Owain son of Urien, Rhun son of Maelgwn, Rhufawn the Radiant son of
Dewrarth Wledig.

The
story of King Urien and Modron tells how Urien Rheged came to a ford haunted by
a mysterious supernatural force that made all the locals fear to approach it.
There he found a woman washing cloaks, and lay with her. Afterwards she blessed
him and told him

“I have been fated to wash here until I should conceive a son by a
Christian. And I am daughter to the King of Annwfn, and come thou here at the
end of the year and then thou shalt receive that boy." And so he came and
he received there a boy and a girl: that is, Owein son of Urien and Morfudd
daughter of Urien.

Owain
appears as the hero of the medieval Welsh romance The Lady of the Fountain, and as an antagonist of Arthur in the medieval Welsh tale The
Dream of Rhonabwy, both in
The Mabinogion.

Life of St Kentigern

A
Life of St Kentigern, now surviving only in part, was commissioned in the
twelfth century by Herbert, Bishop of Glasgow.It names Owain son of Urien as Kentigern’s father and recounts a legend
in which Kentigern is conceived as a result of the seduction of Kentigern’s
mother Denw (also spelled Taniu, Teneu, Thaney, and many other variations),
daughter of the King of Lothian, by Owain map Urien.For a summary, see Whiddon Green, 1998 (Part
2). A longer and slightly later Life of
St Kentigern written by the twelfth-century monk Jocelyn of Furness recounts a clearly
related tale about Kentigern’s birth (with much tut-tutting about fantastical
fables), but does not mention the name of Kentigern’s father (translation
available online).

Interpretation

Status

Owain
is clearly portrayed in the poetry as a warrior-hero, fighting and winning
battles.

The
phrases 'chief of Rheged' and ‘chieftain of the glittering west’ in The Death-Song of Owain are also
consistent with Owain having been a king in his own right.They may indicate that he was a sub-ruler of
part of Rheged (the lovely phrase ‘the glittering west’ immediately calls to
mind the Lake District, or the coastlands of Cumbria and/or Galloway, although
this is pure speculation on my part and I do not know how reliable the
translation is), or that he succeeded his father Urien as king of Rheged, or
both.

The
fact that poetry survives about him suggests that he was of sufficient status
to support a bard.His presence in the
medieval romances and the Triads suggests that there were more poems and
stories about him that have not survived, which in turn suggests that he was
considered an important figure and a worthy hero to tell stories about. (I
should perhaps add the obvious if unromantic caveat here that it is possible
that the romances were drawing on poems and stories that were originally about
several different figures called Owain, and were only later aggregated around a
single character).

It is
not known how long Owain’s career lasted.If he was fighting Flamdwyn when his father Urien was alive, and was
himself killed by the same Flamdwyn, that may be a tenuous indication that he
did not long outlive his father.

Parentage

The
poetry is clear that Owain was a son of Urien, who was King of Rheged some time
in the second half of the sixth century (more about Urien and Rheged in later
posts).

The
story that Owain’s mother was Modron, the daughter of the King of Annwfn
(Annwfn is the Welsh name for the Otherworld), may be no more than a late
legend, invented after Owain had become a key figure of Arthurian tales to provide
a supernatural origin suitable for a legendary hero.There may also be a possibility that it could
have slightly more prosaic roots, perhaps indicating that Owain’s mother was thought
to be non-Christian.At least some of
the Picts were non-Christian at the time of St Columba’s visit to King Bridei
in the 560s, approximately contemporary with Urien, and the early English kings
and aristocrats converted by St Augustine’s Roman missionaries in and after 597
AD were (presumably) non-Christian prior to that.Possibly there were high-status
non-Christians in other kingdoms too. It
may be that Urien married a non-Christian lady, perhaps as part of a dynastic
alliance, and that this was later developed into a supernatural liaison long
after all other details had been forgotten.This is pure speculation on my part.

Children

The Life
of St Kentigern commissioned by Bishop Herbert dates from the twelfth century,
over half a millennium after the events, so should be treated with
caution.It is possible that the story
was invented wholesale to provide St Kentigern with a royal parentage and
suitably exotic conception story, with Owain’s name simply borrowed out of the
romances as a worthy hero to father an important saint.That said, a dynastic marriage between a
prince of Rheged (in what is now south-western Scotland/north-western England)
and a princess from the kingdom of Lothian in what is now south-eastern
Scotland) is plausible, and the date of Kentigern’s death in Annales Cambriae
does not contradict the (limited!) evidence about the likely date range for
Owain.So it is also possible that the
story contains a kernel of truth. No
other children of Owain son of Urien are mentioned in the surviving sources.

Date

Owain’s
father Urien is stated in Historia Brittonum to have fought against Theodric of
Bernicia, one of the sons of Ida of Bernicia.Theodric’s reign is not precisely dated, but it falls somewhere between
the end of Ida’s twelve-year reign (which, according to Bede, began in 547) in
559 and the twenty-four-year reign of Aethelferth of Bernicia that began in 593
(for a discussion on the dating, see my article ‘Origins of Northumbria: Two Aethelrics?’).So Theodric ruled some time between 559 and 593.As Urien is said to have fought against
Theodric, it can be inferred that Urien was militarily active at some time in
the same period, i.e. in the second half of the sixth century.Urien and Theodric need not have been exact
contemporaries, of course; all that is needed for consistency with Historia
Brittonum is that their reigns overlapped long enough for at least one
battle.

As
Urien’s son, Owain belongs to the next generation and therefore is likely to
belong to a later period, perhaps in the last quarter of the sixth century.Urien and Owain are shown fighting together
in The Battle of Argoed Llwyfain, indicating that their fighting careers
overlapped.

Unfortunately,
Owain’s and Urien’s adversary Flamdwyn cannot be certainly identified.The name Flamdwyn is a nickname, meaning
something like ‘Firebrand’ or ‘Flamebearer’.The next line in Owain’s death song refers to ‘the men of Lloegyr’, and
as Lloegyr is a common medieval Welsh name for the lands that became England,
this is consistent with Flamdwyn as a leader of an English kingdom. The obvious candidate is Theodric of Bernicia,
since Historia Brittonum explicitly says that he fought Urien, but it could be
another king, either of Bernicia or of another kingdom.

Taniu
and her father Lewdwn do not appear in Historia Brittonum, Annales Cambriae or
genealogies other than Kentigern’s, so they do not add any independent dating
evidence.

Annales
Cambriae enters the death of Kentigern in 612.If Kentigern was really Owain’s son, this is also consistent with a date
for Owain in the late sixth century.

Conclusion

For
such an important figure in Arthurian legend, Owain map Urien is surprisingly
poorly recorded in historical sources (though the same could be said of Arthur
himself, so Owain is in illustrious company there).Taking the Taliesin poetry at face value, it
seems reasonable to infer that Owain son of Urien was a warrior hero in the
late sixth century, that he and his father fought at least one famous battle
against a (probably) English warlord, and that Owain ruled at least part of
Rheged, possibly only briefly.Whether
he had a non-Christian mother, and whether he also entered into a liaison or
marriage with a princess of Lothian and fathered a famous saint is open to
interpretation, though there seems no obvious reason why these would be
impossible.

Owain and Taniu's story is imagined in Kathleen Herbert’s novel Bride of the Spear (first published
under the title Lady of the Fountain),
based in part on the earlier Life of St Kentigern and The Lady of the Fountain.
Trifolium Books UK plan to bring out a new edition of Bride of the Spear in
June 2013.For more details, see the
Trifolium Books blog.

Awards

About Me

I'm a scientist with an interest in history, particularly the history of Britain in the 5th-10th centuries AD (i.e. between the departure of Rome and the Norman invasion).
I write scientific journal articles, for which I get paid, and historical and fantasy fiction, for which I don't. I'm a keen hillwalker, though I live in the flatlands of East Anglia.
I'm a devotee of BBC Radio 4, the network that justifies the license fee all by itself.
Carla Nayland is a pen name.